(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved sealing valve structure for liquid sprayers or atomizers, more particularly an improvement directed to the structure of a compression chamber formed in an interior of a valve of a manually operable sprayer, in which a tightening valve disposed below a compression chamber and capable of interaction with a movable valve is integrally formed with a cylinder so as to enhance the concentricity, stability, and durability of the tightening valve and the cylinder and to prevent loosening and failure of the tightening valve due to prolonged subjection to the reciprocating friction action of the movable valve. Furthermore, the movable valve has a stepped pressure bearing surface and a lower sleeve portion for receiving a spring to achieve a stable tension effect.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
For conventional sprayers or atomizers, especially those for spraying perfume, in addition to the quality of the aromatic material used for the perfume, whether the sprayers or atomizers are light and compact to use, whether the sprayers"" response to the user""s manipulation is sensitive, and whether the spraying effect is satisfactory, all of them are important factors that determine whether they can attract users. Hence, sprayers or atomizers of excellent quality and good spraying effects receive more and more attention today.
Generally speaking, in use, when the sprayer is being pressed, the sprayed amount should be controllable within a determined range, not excessive or not inadequate, so that the user can spray a desired amount of perfume onto a certain part of his/her body. In other words, the sprayer should enable the user to determine whether to press the sprayer once, twice, or thrice to obtain the desired amount. It is, therefore, very important to control the amount of perfume sprayed at each pressing of the sprayer, which involves the stable output of perfume at each operation. A sprayer or atomizer that can spray perfume in stages in response to a light pressure thereon is an excellent sprayer or atomizer.
FIG. 1 shows a liquid sprayer disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 4,735,347. The liquid sprayer in said patent comprises a movable valve A, an upper end piston element B, a lower end cylinder portion C, a tightening valve D, an elastic element E, and an outer fitting element F. The movable valve A includes an upper solid rod portion A1 and a lower hollow sleeve portion A2. The rod portion A1 is divided into three sections according to the thickness thereof, namely, a first rod portion A11, a second rod portion A12, and a third rod portion A13. The upper end piston element B and the lower end cylinder portion C cooperatively form a cylinder K. The tightening valve D is mounted in the lower end cylinder C portion and is elastically tightened on an outer wall of the movable valve A to achieve a water-stopping effect. The movable valve A is disposed inside the cylinder K at the upper section. The elastic element E at the lower section generates an elastic tension with respect to the movable valve A. And inside the cylinder K, the space confined by the tightening valve D and the upper end piston element B is a compression chamber Z adapted to suck in a liquid, compress it, and eject it.
When the sprayer is being pressed downwardly, the movable valve A and the upper end piston element B are brought to displace synchronously downward. When an outer periphery B2 of the upper end piston element B displaces downwardly along an inner wall of the lower end cylinder portion C, and when an outer periphery at the lowermost section of the sleeve portion A2 of the movable valve A is in contact with the tightening valve D that has a diameter slightly smaller than the periphery of the sleeve portion A2, an enclosed space is formed. Besides, the capacity of the compression chamber Z is gradually decreasing. If the pressing action continues, the lower end cylinder C will displace further downwardly so that the pressure borne by the liquid inside the compression chamber Z increases. As a result, the liquid stored in the compression chamber 7 flows speedily upwardly along the gap between the rod portion A1 and the wall of the upper end piston element B and exerts a pressure on the second rod portion A12 and the third rod portion A13 of the movable valve A, so that the movable valve displaces downwardly and causes the liquid to thrust instantly to a nozzle B1 to be sprayed out in a mist form.
The question of concern herein is that in order that the tightening vale D provided in the lower end cylinder portion C can tightly couple with the movable valve A, shoulders formed at where the two rod portions meet are configured to be pressure concentration points to allow the liquid to press the movable valve A downwardly when the sprayer is being pressed. The object of a configuration as such is to cause the movable valve A to resist the resetting tension of the elastic element E in a more sensitive manner and displace instantly downward, so that a top end of the first rod portions A11 disengages from a valve port B101 that is originally in tightly contact therewith, thereby allowing the high-pressure liquid to eject from the nozzle B1 of the piston element B.
A primary condition to allow ejection of liquid when the sprayer is subjected to pressure is that a compression chamber has to be provided, which should be able to eject the liquid when subjected to pressure. Besides, when the compression chamber is emptied of the liquid, an equal amount of liquid has to be drawn into the compression chamber. In addition, the compression chamber has to be sealed tight. When the liquid is sprayed out in mist form, an opening should be formed at an upper end of the compression chamber to allow ejection of the liquid. During the process of drawing in the liquid, the lower end thereof should also form an opening to allow suction of liquid therein. Regarding the control of the drawing in of the liquid, it is the action of the tightening valve D in the lower end cylinder portion C that cooperates with the movable valve A to achieve closure or opening, in particular, the tightening action of an inner peripheral flange D1 on the periphery of the tightening valve D and the movable valve A. The inner peripheral flange D1 extends upwardly at an inclined angle. When the liquid in the compression chamber 2 is pressed and is filled with pressure, the inner peripheral flange D1 will become more closed with respect to the movable valve A. If the liquid inside the compression chamber Z is discharged and is in a virtually vacuum state, the liquid is sucked into the compression chamber Z from a lower portion of the sprayer container as in a pumping action.
It can therefore be seen that whether a determined amount of liquid can be successfully pressed out of or drawn into the compression chamber in a stable manner is hinged upon whether the tightening valve D can provide a sealing effect. According to the above-described structure, the tightening valve D is an independent element disposed on the bottom portion of the compression chamber Z. If the installation or coupling thereof is defective and it becomes loosened, the compression chamber Z cannot be positively sealed, and the spraying and suction actions are affected.
Furthermore, the sensitivity of the movable valve A determines the magnitude of force required to press the sprayer. In the structure as described above, the second and third rod portions A12, A13 of the movable valve A form a stepped surface, which makes the pressure bearing surface area narrow and slanting and affects the sensitivity of the movable valve A. Hence, the pressing operation is not smooth.
Therefore, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved sealing valve structure for liquid sprayers, in which a tightening valve is integrally formed with a cylinder so that the precision of their concentricity is enhanced to prevent loosening of the tightening valve. The parts are standardized so that manufacturing and assembly costs are reduced. Furthermore, the tightening valve is provided with a projecting annular tightening end at an edge of an inner periphery thereof so that it has enhanced tightness, smoothness, and stability.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved sealing valve structure for liquid sprayers, in which a movable valve has an upper end provided with a stepped pressure bearing portion so that a liquid inside a compression chamber can react quickly when subjected to pressure to cause the movable valve to retract, thereby allowing ejection of the liquid. And besides, the pressing action is very smooth compared to the prior art.